Vehicle Combat: Difference between revisions
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<small>[[Epic Path]] \</small> | <small>[[Epic Path]] \</small> | ||
These rules are intended to provide a fun, interesting means of simulating vehicular combat, whether a sailing ship on the high seas, an armored horse-drawn carriage, or a sleek flying vessel which uses ley lines to propel itself. These rules are optional, since some campaign settings will have no use for them. | These rules are intended to provide a fun, interesting means of simulating vehicular combat, whether a sailing ship on the high seas, an armored horse-drawn carriage, or a sleek flying vessel which uses ley lines to propel itself. These rules are optional, since some campaign settings will have no use for them. | ||
These rules provide a crew role for each player character, allowing them to contribute, as a team, to the success or failure of the vehicle's combat prowess. This keeps the combat interesting for each player, rather than the one who spent any points in a piloting/driving skill. | |||
These rules are focused only on combat between vehicles. Outside of combat, vehicles should be fairly easy to handle, with only the occasional skill check to see if the vehicle remains on course and how quickly it can arrive at its destination. | These rules are focused only on ''combat'' between vehicles. Outside of combat, vehicles should be fairly easy to handle, with only the occasional skill check to see if the vehicle remains on course and how quickly it can arrive at its destination. | ||
===The Basics=== | ===The Basics=== | ||
At the start of combat, each PC declares which station of the | # '''Choose a station:''' | ||
: At the start of combat, each PC declares which station of the vehicle he or she wishes to occupy. Stations are: Channeler, Captain, Gunner, Pilot, Spotter and Repair Crew | |||
:: '''Changing Stations:''' PC's may change which station they are at, but it requires a full turn to change stations (no other actions or die rolls may be made while changing stations). | |||
Each station has a profession skill associated with it, which determines expertise at that particular station's duties. On your turn, you make a skill check against this skill. If you do not have any ranks in | # '''Make a skill check:''' | ||
Each station has a profession skill associated with it, which determines expertise at that particular station's duties. On your turn, you make a skill check against this skill. | |||
:: '''Alternate Skills:''' If you do not have any ranks in the skill for your station, you may instead use any bailiwick skill in its place. | |||
If you used the appropriate Profession skill, you divide your skill check's result by 5 (round down), and take this many d6 dice into your action pool for the round. If you used a bailiwick skill instead of the appropriate Profession skill, you divide your skill check's result by 10 (round down) instead. No matter how poorly you roll on your skill check, you always get a minimum of 2d6 for your action pool. | # '''Determine action pool:''' | ||
: If you used the appropriate Profession skill, you divide your skill check's result by 5 (round down), and take this many d6 dice into your action pool for the round. If you used a bailiwick skill instead of the appropriate Profession skill, you divide your skill check's result by 10 (round down) instead. | |||
:: '''Minimum action pool:''' No matter how poorly you roll on your skill check, you always get a minimum of 2d6 for your action pool. | |||
You then roll your action pool of d6's, and may | # '''Roll action pool and determine expenditures:''' | ||
: You then roll your action pool of d6's, and may allocate the results of your roll to one or more expenditures available to your station. Each expenditure contributes in some way to the success of the combat, and is detailed in the descriptions of each station below. | |||
In the event that you don't have enough pips in your action pool to perform an action, or you have left over dice which you weren't able to use this round, you can also bank those unused dice until the next turn, adding their existing pips to your next round's action pool. | :: '''Banking dice:''' In the event that you don't have enough pips in your action pool to perform an action, or you have left over dice which you weren't able to use this round, you can also bank those unused dice until the next turn, adding their existing pips to your next round's action pool. There is no limit to the number of dice you can bank each turn, and banked dice do not affect how many dice you get in your action pool in future rounds. | ||
Note that pips from d6's in your action pool cannot be split up. That is, you must use all of the pips on a single die if you use any of them. This means if you wish to purchase an expenditure which costs 12 pips, and you have three 5's on your action pool dice, you must spend all three dice to pay for the 12 pip cost. Alternatively, you could bank your dice until next turn, and hope that your next turn's action pool dice allow you to divide your results less wastefully. | :: '''You can't split dice:''' Note that pips from d6's in your action pool cannot be split up. That is, you must use all of the pips on a single die if you use any of them. This means if you wish to purchase an expenditure which costs 12 pips, and you have three 5's on your action pool dice, you must spend all three dice to pay for the 12 pip cost, effectively wasting 3 pips of your action pool. Alternatively, you could bank your dice until next turn, and hope that your next turn's action pool dice allow you to divide your results less wastefully. | ||
===Vehicle Ranges=== | ===Vehicle Ranges=== | ||
Even though vehicle combat takes place in 2d space (usually on a surface of something, like the ground or water) or even 3d space (in the case of flying vehicles), the relational distance between two vehicles is simplified for purposes of these rules. A vehicle is always in one of five ranges from anything else. These ranges are: | |||
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" style="text-align:left" | |||
|- | |||
! Range || Distance || Notes | |||
|- | |||
! Out-of-Range | |||
| 15 miles to 50 miles || The horizon, as seen from a spotting station. | |||
|- | |||
! Long Range | |||
| 1 mile to 15 miles || The horizon, as seen from the vehicle's deck. | |||
|- | |||
! Medium Range | |||
| 1001 feet to 1 mile || The range of many siege weapons | |||
|- | |||
! Short Range | |||
| 51 feet to 1000 feet || The upper range of spells and bows | |||
|- | |||
! Close Range | |||
| adjacent to 50 feet || Boarding and Ramming range. Also the range for docking at port | |||
|} | |||
A pilot uses the majority of his action pool attempting to maneuver into or out of these ranges, in relation to one or more other vehicles. Depending on the vehicle's maneuverability class (see below), it can require more than one expenditure to move from one range to another. | |||
of , that vehicle may declare that combat is over. | |||
There is technically another range band beyond Out of Range, which is Out of Sight. In most cases, this is beyond "Out of Range", but some vehicles may have a means of approaching other vehicles stealthily, which obviously complicates the exact range of "out of sight". | |||
vehicle until they are within Long range. Note, however, that a vehicle with a spotter station, but no PC manning it can still spot vehicles at Out of Range, as the NPC can spot on the player characters' behalf. | |||
===Vehicle Weapons=== | ===Vehicle Weapons=== | ||
Weapons on | Weapons on vehicles are siege weapons, which do sunder attacks. Siege weapons have varying ranges, base damage and effects on their targets, depending on the weapon mounted to the vehicle. | ||
Attacks always hit one of the stations of the | Attacks always hit one of the stations of the target vehicle, and each station has its own durability score. If a station has its durability reduced to 0, it can no longer generate dice on its own. | ||
However, the channeler may grant dice to that station to allow it to function. This includes any dice the channeler has already given to that station | However, the channeler may grant dice to that station to allow it to function. This includes any dice the channeler has already given to that station | ||
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Damage is repaired by the Repair Crew | Damage is repaired by the Repair Crew | ||
If any three of a | If any three of a stations are reduced to 0 durability, the vehicle is considered destroyed. | ||
In general, low-level siege weapons will deal 1-2 base damage, which can be upgraded by a talented gunner | In general, low-level siege weapons will deal 1-2 base damage, which can be upgraded by a talented gunner | ||
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===Length of Turns=== | ===Length of Turns=== | ||
The length of each turn varies by what range the | The length of each turn varies by what range the vehicles are at in relation to each other. | ||
* Turns at Close range are | * Turns at Close range are 5 minutes each | ||
* Turns at Short range are | * Turns at Short range are 20 minutes each | ||
* Turns at Medium range are | * Turns at Medium range are 1 hour each | ||
* Turns at Long range are | * Turns at Long range are 2 hours each | ||
* Turns at Out of Range are | * Turns at Out of Range are 3 hours each | ||
Boarding actions take place with normal 6-second rounds, as with normal combat, however, boarding actions always take a minimum of | Boarding actions take place with normal 6-second rounds, as with normal combat, however, boarding actions always take a minimum of 20 minutes. | ||
Even cursory looting of a vehicle, going as quickly as you can, takes a minimum of 1 hour. Thoroughly looting a vehicle can take 3 or more hours, especially for larger vehicles. | |||
==Crew Stations== | ==Crew Stations== | ||
Not all vehicles will have all stations available to them. A flying carpet may only have a | Not all vehicles will have all stations available to them. A flying carpet may only have a pilot station, and nothing else. Furthermore, some vehicles will have limitations on how many crew can occupy a given station. | ||
===Ship's Channeler=== | ===Ship's Channeler=== | ||
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* Can be lay sigils or channeled magic | * Can be lay sigils or channeled magic | ||
A ship's channeler is responsible for making the motive force of the vehicle as efficient as possible. This could be as mundane as beating a drum to keep time for the rowers, cropping the horses to make them go faster, or tweaking the magical matrix of the vehicle to coax a little more power out of it. | A ship's channeler is responsible for making the motive force of the vehicle as efficient as possible. This could be as mundane as beating a drum to keep time for the rowers, cropping the horses to make them go faster, or tweaking the magical matrix of the vehicle to coax a little more power out of it. In non-magical vehicles, a ship's channeler might be referred to as a pace-setter, drover, or any other term appropriate. | ||
A Ship's Channeler may | A Ship's Channeler may use his action pool for the following expenditures: | ||
* any number - improve next turn (allocate dice to next round's rolls) | * any number - improve next turn (allocate dice to next round's rolls) | ||
* 12 - buy temporarary d6 to grant to someone on the ship | * 12 - buy temporarary d6 to grant to someone on the ship | ||
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* '''If Unmanned:''' A vehicle which has a ship's gunner station, but is not crewed by a PC will fire no more than once per 3 rounds, assuming the enemy vehicle is in range. | * '''If Unmanned:''' A vehicle which has a ship's gunner station, but is not crewed by a PC will fire no more than once per 3 rounds, assuming the enemy vehicle is in range. | ||
===Ship's | ===Ship's Pilot=== | ||
* '''Skill Required:''' Profession (Ship's | * '''Skill Required:''' Profession (Ship's Pilot) | ||
A Ship's | A Ship's Pilot may apply the pips of his action pool for the following expenditures: | ||
* any number - improve next turn | * any number - improve next turn | ||
* any number - close distance, open distance or hold steady, in relation to the enemy ship. Opposed by the enemy | * any number - close distance, open distance or hold steady, in relation to the enemy ship. Opposed by the enemy pilot's expenditure of pips this round. | ||
The | The pilot has to guess how much of his action pool to spend to maneuver his vehicle in relation to the enemy vehicle. Each round, he records how many of his pips he is spending as well as whether he is attempting to close, open or hold his position, and the GM records the same for the enemy vehicle (or vehicles). Both sides reveal their results simultaneously, and the highest total gets their way, if the chosen actions are opposites. That is, if the PC's vehicle wishes to close the distance, and the enemy vehicle wishes to open the distance, the winner of this bidding war will succeed in moving 1 success closer to the next range band (see maneuverability classes below). However, if the chosen actions are not contradictory, like both ships wish to close, they both succeed, as long as they each spent any pips at all to perform the action. | ||
* '''If Unmanned:''' A vehicle which has a ship's | * '''If Unmanned:''' A vehicle which has a ship's pilot station, but is not crewed by a PC will generate 2 pips of action dice per campaign level (so 20 pips at campaign level 10, etc.). These can be banked or spent as needed, for use on navigation-related expenditures. | ||
===Repair Crew=== | ===Repair Crew=== | ||
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* '''If Unmanned:''' A vehicle which has a ship's | * '''If Unmanned:''' A vehicle which has a ship's spotter station, but is not crewed by a PC can still spot vehicles in the Out of Range range band, and can still assess the target ship, per the first action above. However, an NPC spotter cannot provide any other bonuses to the vehicle. | ||
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===rules for damage=== | |||
===rules for ramming=== | |||
===rules for crashing=== | ===rules for crashing=== | ||
===rules for boarding=== | ===rules for boarding=== | ||
===rules for destroying target ship, instead of merely disabling it=== | ===rules for destroying target ship, instead of merely disabling it=== | ||